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Energy Bills Too High?

Soaring energy costs are driving the cost to heat and cool your home higher than ever. Here are a few ways the average person can lower their energy costs significantly.

Install a programmable thermostat. With a manual thermostat, quite often people forget to turn the heat or air conditioning down when they leave for work or go to bed. By programming set times to raise or lower the temp, you remove the human error part of the equation. Additionally, the newer programmable thermostats turn off and on quicker, which helps keep the temperature at a more even level.

Do you have at least 14″ of insulation in the attic? If not, consider adding more. This is an expense that will recoup your investment relatively quickly.

In the winter, when the wind is blowing, inspect the areas around the switches and electrical receptacles on the exterior walls. If you feel a draft, add insulating gaskets to reduce the draft.

Here’s a real easy one that gives a quick return on your investment. If you have incandescent bulbs in any of the light fixtures, replace them with LED bulbs. They give the same amount of light, but consume much less energy. They also last a long time, you’ll probably never need to replace them.

How old is your refrigerator or freezer? Newer, energy efficient models use much less electric.

Do you like to cook on an outside grill? If you grill outside in the summer, you won’t have the cooking heat warming the house.

Not everyone can do this one, but if your windows are older, consider replacing them with new, energy efficient windows. New windows have either wood or plastic frames, which transfer a lot less heat and cold than older, metal framed windows. The double pane construction uses an inert gas between the panes to further increase the energy efficiency.